Have any of you owned the Canon AE-1 or Nikon F75 ?

[Captain K]

should of told me you were looking for an auto 110

[spystyle]

Originally Posted by JimmyH

...you may find yourself saying "Meter? I don't need no steenking meter!"...

You'd have to have quite an eye to meter mentally - that's what I call a real photographer!

Originally Posted by Captain K

should of told me you were looking for an auto 110

Oh that's a cool little SLR ! I'll soon have mine, it's en route

[JimmyH]

Originally Posted by spystyle

You'd have to have quite an eye to meter mentally - that's what I call a real photographer!

Film is quite forgiving... Try not to overexpose slide film, and do not underexpose print film. "Sunny 16" will get you surprisingly close. Go ahead, be brave!

[spystyle]

Using my brain to calculate exposure, that sounds so crazy! But you think print/negative film has such a wide range of exposure latitude ... Alright, hook me up with a Leica sans meter and I'll try it

Your Leica belongs to me!

More on "Sunny 16" :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16
Beyond Sunny-16 - Exposure by Guess and by Golly

[spystyle]

Originally Posted by Captain K

should of told me you were looking for an auto 110

Hey, my teeny tiny 110 arrived today, I can hardly describe how small it is !

Here it is versus my Nikon D40 with it's smallest lens, the Nikon 35/1.8 - that is the 2nd smallest digital SLR at the time of this writing - next to the 110 which is the 2nd smallest film SLR ever made.



And here it is with all the cameras in the house at the moment (several are due to take off shortly) :



It's crazy-small

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As for the Canon AE-1 : OK, I ordered a "50/1.8 FD" to replace the "50/1.4 FD" that has oil on the blades. Well I received a lens that has a little fungus in the corner! I guess I can't win

The Canon FD 50/1.4 and 50/1.8 are wildly different in build quality! One is heavy and metal and quite a work of mechanical art - the other is not. I've heard the EF equivalent lenses are like that too.

On a lighter note, the 50/1.8 FD came with a cap that reads "official 35mm camera, 1984 Olympic games" - I get a kick out of that

[Dirk]

Ahhh film the days of waiting for the results.. hmm barekly shoot film any more guess i'm more 10010110101001

but that doesn't mean that analogue should s...k , when it comes to big enlargements is is no problem with the 81 MP ( read somewhere that 81MP reflects the sharpness of analogue..)

good luck pal and scan in the results and " blow us away"

Cheers

Dirk

[spystyle]

I'll do it Thanks

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You know, I have found/bought quite a few of these film cameras and resold most, I gotta tell ya - most of them don't work! I have a very poor average :

Kodak disk - dead
Canonet - broken shutter
50/1.4 FD - oil on blades
Canon af35m - shutter broken
Pentax auto 110 - dead meter
Nikon N75 - MIA

50/1.8 FD works but small fungus
Kiev-60 refurb works, but was missing shoulder strap
Canon AE-1 with motor drive works, but needs new foam

When it comes to film cameras, I suppose it's best to buy one that is already CLA'd ...

However it's not a big deal, I can send them back to eBay

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Do we have a film camera repair man in this forum ? Do we have a resident fixer ?

[DAVE PROUTY]

I have an AE-1 and 135mm 3.5, 50mm 1.8, 28mm 2.8, and 24mm 2.8 breech mount lenses. Plus a pair of third party 70-210 zooms. Haven't used them in years. The 24mm I got at a camera club auction (for $12) and never shot a frame with. If anybody is interested in purchasing these items, make an offer. I'm pretty reasonable. The body has a piece broken off from the dial under the film advance lever. It doesn't affect the function of the camera. The shutter was replaced a number of years ago, and never used after that. It still works like new. Lenses are clean with no fungus or other internal problems. I replaced my Vivitar SLR ( with Pentax screw mount lenses) with this camera in the early 80's. Shortly afterward, I went Medium Format with Yashica 124G TLR's.

Anyway, that's my experience with Canon FD series cameras. I would have liked to have an A-1, but MF got my dough instead.

Any interest in my AE-1 would be nice, but I don't mind if noone is interested. It holds a soft spot in my heart. I'll keep it til I die if it is not worth anything to someone else.

[spystyle]

The AE-1's sell really well on eBay, you ought to put the lot up and get some extra bucks

[papa52]

Just got a complete AE1P kit from a friend several weeks ago. have only ran 4 rolls of film thru it so far. Metering seems to be very accurate for this old gal,and the old 50 mm lens is quite good in low light.

[xxloverxx]

Originally Posted by spystyle

Using my brain to calculate exposure, that sounds so crazy! But you think print/negative film has such a wide range of exposure latitude ... Alright, hook me up with a Leica sans meter and I'll try it

Your Leica belongs to me!

More on "Sunny 16" :

Sunny 16 rule - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Beyond Sunny-16 - Exposure by Guess and by Golly

Metering mentally is quit easy; I learnt the skill with my grandpa's incident meter - I took it around with me everywhere for a few weeks and eventually I memorised the settings for certain areas. I then started guessing exposures and checking them against the meter.
Last week at the park my brain metered 1/3 overexposure when checked against my meter, which is just as well since I shoot negatives!

I think using a reflected meter will be much harder to learn from the way I did unless you carry an 18% card in your pocket too

[spystyle]

Well it's been a while over four months since I first asked.

I used the immortal Pentax K1000 and eventually "felt" like I could mentally meter. I think if I used the K1000 exclusively I could eventually mentally meter accurately.

I felt like the K1000, such a minimalistic camera, taught me a lot and was more fun to use than my "real" cameras. But eventually I let it go.

I decided the best film camera (for me) I've tried so far is the Canon Rebel K2 with battery grip. It is very similar to the Nikon F75 but I think it's better. In my opinion it's the pinnacle of film exposing technology Also light weight and affordable. I really get a kick out of it.







I always miss the K1000 though, I should buy another one



And those are my favorite two film cameras for the moment

Have fun!
Craig

[xxloverxx]

The Pentax looks better to me (I usually prefer Canon over all unless it's Leica…) just because it's metal. Reminds me of the Nikon FM that I could use to break a fall if I ever tripped, and the D50 that I probably wouldn't want to use to break a fall.

Just build quality, really.

And yes, because I was bored last night browsing the film forum and, really, it isn't a very busy one

[spystyle]

Yeah, the K1000 is a beaut of a brick, I love it

I have not tried the Nikon equivalents though, I plan on it.

[xxloverxx]

The Nikon equiv, assuming that the K1000 (K1k? :P) is fully mechanical, would be one of the FM series - I have the original FM. Rather limiting in terms of customisation (no changing prisms, focus screens etc) but extremely durable (it's gone everywhere with me for a few months now and no signs of failing). My F3, which I got at the same time from my grandpa, died a while ago (permanently dead, screwed, FUBAR, you name it) - which is what makes me so reluctant to rely on old cameras that require electronics to work.

& unless you plan on carrying a bulky brick around with you all day, don't get anything made after the F3 (I have the F3 and F4; the F4 is so heavy, if I didn't have film loaded in it right now I'd confine it to the cupboard). Also, IMO the F4 is the model where they really started to make the design complicated - compare the tops of the FM, F3 and F4 and you'll see what I mean.